ABOUT THE BOOK:
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse,
narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker’s epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.
REVIEW BY DANIA: (NONE)
OTHER INFORMATION:
Won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction making Walker the first black woman to win the prize. It also won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983. The novel has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000–2009 at number seventeenth because of the sometimes explicit content, particularly in terms of violence.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
1. Racism & racial slurs
2. Cultural appropriation, specifically Native American culture
3. Domestic violence
4. Physical, verbal & emotional abuse, including gaslighting
5. Rape, statutory rape & rape of a child
6. Incest (father-daughter)
7. Pregnancy, result of rape & incest
8. Forced estrangement
9. Cheating
10. Self-harm
11. Disordered eating (bingeing)
12. Alcohol consumption
13. Female genital mutilation mentioned
14. Emesis
15. Lynching recounted
16. Murder
17. Gun violence mentioned
18. Death of a mother
19. Death of an infant
